I want to thank those of you who have written me personally with your thanks for writing my first Kindle book, “Digital Texture: Beginners Guide to FAQs,” and am very glad that is has truly helped you as you begin your journey. As I know you will grow beyond this book and as a few on my mailing list have requested another book, one that shows how I apply and use the textures I make in my own work or in the examples I’ve shared in my newsletter, I’ve started to work on a second Kindle book. I’m looking at doing a more formal format than the fixed format I used as some of you from the UK were unable to download the book without having to update your Windows.

Here is a recent work that I used in my newsletter and that I plan on using in the book. Would love your feedback as to the format of the tutorial. Is it in depth enough? What would you change? Add? and so on. Would also appreciate if you add what level of experience you have in working with digital textures—beginner, intermediate, advanced; and what software you are working in—Photoshop, Gimp, etc. Thanks!

The tutorial is below the image.

Texture Tutorial

Layer 03: Duplicated (cmd/cntr + J) layer 2; lassoed bottom area with a 4% feather and used a Motion Blur at 90º, Distance 295, blend mode Pin Light, 100% opacity. Refined the mask area using white on a low opacity to transition the photo back into the blurred area.

Layer 04: With the lassoed area still active, I duplicated it (cmd/cntr + J) the bottom area and stretched it upward just above the hay bale, leaving the texture to point to the hay bale and sheep. Blend mode Multiply, 36% opacity.Layer 05: Duplicated layer 4 and went over the lines with the Smudge tool horizontally to give it a more painterly feel. Blend mode Multiply, 100% opacity.

Layer 06: Duplicated Layer 1 and moved it to the top most layer (06) and used a motion blur on the entire image at 90º, distance 295. Blend mode Soft Light, 100% opacity.

Layer 07: Duplicate the texture and again set it to top-most layer (07) and set it to Overlay, 100% opacity. Then I used the emboss filter 1 pixel high and 500%. This brings the texture out again having lost some of it with the previous layers.

Layer 08: The last layer I lassoed the darkest sheep who had become too dark in the process and used Levels to lighten it and make it visible again.

I want to thank James / jamarmstrong for the Creative Commons license he has provided to use with his photo on Flickr.